Sun and Shadow
by Shadowbolt the Demon
Summary: When Rothas Sunsinger and Lythe Shadowdancer were cursed, they thought they would never be normal again. But after they nearly get burned to death and get captured by an enemy mage, being normal is the last of their worries.
1. Prologue: Shadowdancer

**A/N: **This story is just like the summery said. I got the ides a while ago, and it seems nobody else on has written anything like this. R&R.

**Disclaimer: **What you recognize belongs to Misty, what you don't belongs to me.

**X-X-X**

_She dances in shadow; like a shadow is her hair.  
__Her eyes hold midnight captive; like a phantom, fell and fair.  
__While the woodlark sings the measures that her flying feet retrace.  
__She dances in the shadows like of darkling grace._

Ever since she was young, she had always been a talented dancer; the best Allafawn had ever seen. She had been the pride of her family, and her town.

At the early age of six summers, she had received dancing lessons from an old widow, Gilsa, who said she was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Not that the lessons were necessary; she was a natural dancer, it just came to her. Gilsa had said she was most certainly the most talented dancer she had ever met, or even heard of. Soon after starting them though, Gilsa said they were useless, that she could only teach herself. That was how good she was.

So after the lessons stopped, she continued to dance everyday for as much time as she could spare, or however long she wanted to. She would dance at town festivals and parties, though she never minded; performing was the way to show off how good she was, in a polite way at least. She once even danced for a Herald at her father's request, as well as the Herald's. The Herald had been breath-taken.

Even after Gilsa's lessons had stopped, she continued to go to her house. Gilsa was the mother she never had; her real one had died when giving birth to her. She would always find time to go to Gilsa's, whether it was to dance or talk or whatever else they wanted to do.

Life had been great, until she was cursed…

_Not that there is any use thinking of the past_, she thought bitterly. _I am cursed and nothing is going to change that._

She looked up from the ground and saw the first light of dawn creeping over the horizon. It made the dew on the leaves sparkle, and the lake in front of her glistened. She sighed and walked slowly to the cave beside the lake. The entrance was small about half her height and a bit smaller length-wise. But when she ducked down into it, it was revealed that the cave was much bigger than at first sight. It was tall enough that she barely had to hunch-over, and she could have lain eagle-spread on the floor and still have extra room.

She did just that, and laid down on the mattress of old leaves and grass, covered by cloth. She looked out of the entrance to the cave and saw a light slowly rising, steadily blinding her. She felt her eyelids get heavier, and went to sleep with one thought echoing in her mind.

_I am cursed, and nothing can change that._


	2. Prologue: Sunsinger

_He sings in the summer sunlight to the cloudless summer skies;  
__His head is crowned with sunlight and the heavens match his eyes.  
__All the wildwood seems to listen to the singer's gladsome voice.  
__He sings in summer sunlight and all those who hear rejoice._

His eyes slowly cracked open as dawn's rays washed over his face.

_Ah, another day, another twelve candlemarks until I am forced back to an involuntary sleep._ He smiled grimly. _Life is looking up already._

He slowly stood up and brushed of the dirt that had collected during the night.

_At least the mage had enough decency to curse me to day; night would make it twice as depressive as it is_ now. _Oh well, unless it become a mage—and a stronger one than the one I was cursed by—I am stuck to do this eternal cycle._

Than a new thought occurred to him.

_What if I find a mage who is more powerful than the one that cursed me, than the spell should be broken, shouldn't it…? But to go traveling with the curse is suicide. I may have run from people, but I haven't forgotten how cruel some can act._

He looked down.

_Than I am cursed, and stuck. But that isn't anything new…_

He shook his head in an unsuccessful attempt to get the depressive thoughts out of his heads. He sighed and simply started walking into the woodlands, to a lake he had found two weeks ago. It was the most stunning at dawn and he hurried to reach it. After ten minutes of tramping in the woods, he reached it.

The pale golden rays simmered on the surface of the water, making it look alive. He could see the green plants waving in sync with the shallow water. He sat own on a nearby rock and started singing. He sung, he sung of grief and pain and loss, as it fitted his mood. Unseen, woodland creatures gathered around him, in a trance, spell-bound by his music.

As the last clear notes slowly faded away, he opened his eyes. Gathered around him were the woodland creatures, just starting to get out of their trances. But they didn't leave when he stopped, and he smiled.

_I am not so alone as I thought, after all…_


	3. Meetings: Part I

**A/N: **Thanks to my first reviewer, **Tessabe**!

**X-X-X**

_She dances in shadow, for a doom upon her lies;  
__That if once the sunlight touches her the Shadowdancer dies.  
__And on his line is this curse laid—that once the day is sped  
__In sleeplike death he lies until again the night has fled._

Lythe Shadowdancer watch as the sun finally set, and twilight came. It was the only time she could go outside when there was sunlight.

_About time_, she thought. _The days just keep getting longer and longer._

Lythe carefully crawled out of the small cave she had slept in, wary to avoid the remaining patches of sunlight on the ground as night took over.

_But maybe that would be better, to have the sunlight hit me_, she thought gloomily, _rather than hide in a cave by day and come out at night._

She sighed as she sat on the ground, burrowing her face in her arms.

_The only reason I make sure to not get hit by the sun is because of a childish dream of a knight in shining armor coming to rescue me… or maybe it is because I am too afraid, too cowardly… I don't know…_

Lythe sat up from the ground and started walking around the edges of the lake, watching the last of the sun's reflection on the water retreated as darkness took over.

_It is a never ending battle between light and dark, sun and shadow, never to be won…_

Lythe continued walking when she heard—

"Singing?" she said out loud. "Who is singing?"

_One evening that is neither day nor night,  
__The time part bred of shadow, and partly born of light,  
__A trembling Shadowdancer heard the voice of love and doom  
__That sang a song of sunlight through the gathering evening gloom_.

Lythe looked around, trying to locate the mysterious singer.

_The music is so beautiful_, she remarked.

Then she saw him. He was sitting on top of a rock on the opposite side of the lake from Lythe's cave.

He had an angelic face; tanned skin, sharp eyes, high cheekbones. His hair was the most beautiful shade of blond she had ever seen, like the bright stars on a clear night. It was cut short, resting just above his ears. His eyes were closed as he continued singing. Woodland creatures gathered around him, captivated by his mystic voice. Woodlarks, squirrels, deer, even a hawk, all listened, staring unblinkingly at the singer.

For some reason Lythe couldn't fathom, she felt drawn to the man.

_No!_ she thought. _He's just another passing traveler. He'll be gone by this time tomorrow._

While still unseen from the singer, Lythe headed towards the woods, committed to running in the reverse direction. But she couldn't. Lythe could only stand there listening to the beautiful music, tears running down her face knowing he would be gone tomorrow. She didn't know why, but that one thought seemed to tear her up inside.

_A spell cast upon her, and she followed in its wake  
__To where Sunsinger sang it, all unheeding, by her lake.  
__She saw the one that she must love until the day she died—  
__Bitter tears for bitter loving then Shadowdancer cried._


	4. Meetings: Part II

When the singer had finished, Lythe dashed into the woods before he saw her. He would be gone just like all the others, there was no point to get to know him. She walked through the forest for a few minutes, and than sat down, feeling unnaturally tired. She laid her head against the back of the tree, hugged her knees to her chest and soon drifted off to sleep.

Lythe woke up the next day to sunlight. She smiled and then—

_Sunlight!_

Lythe looked around and saw a long shadow made from the tree in front of her. It was lucky that she had pulled her legs up otherwise she would have gotten killed from the light touching her.

She sighed. _That's just great. I'm stuck her for the Gods know how long. And if I fall asleep, I could get killed because the sun is always moving and in consequence so are the shadow, so it could touch me and my pitiful life would be over. _Then, as an afterthought, she added, _Not that I'm even tired._

**X-X-X**

Rothas Sunsinger finished his song and smiled. But the smile soon faded when he got the feeling he was being watched. He turned his head and saw a dark shadow bolt into the forest.

_Why not see what it was? Something _different_ to brighten my day._

Rothas was about to go into the forest when night took over and he collapsed on the ground in a cursed sleep.

He woke up the next morning at exactly dawn, as always, when the sun started taking over the night. After laying there for a few minutes, Rothas started humming quietly which quickly turned into a song. He felt the world slip away as he finally went into a trance.

Rothas slowly got up a half-candlemark later and stretched his stiff muscles. When he sung, he could go into a Bardic-like trance if he chose; and that allowed him to actually channel with his voice (although if he really tried, he could channel without being in as trance, it was just harder). He had found out about that when he was ten, and therefore after started going to the town healer to see if he had any patients that he could have helped with. The healer rejoiced when he came to help, and while he was there he had told Roth about Haven, the capitol city where he had gotten his training. The healer said that he could do much more good there at the Collegium where some seriously injured/sick people were kept. Not to mention there were Bards and minstrels there too. Rothas was actually headed to Haven when he was cursed…

Rothas shook his head at the memories and walked into the dark forest and looked around. He had no idea how to track so Rothas decided to just walk around and look carefully at the vegetation and forest floor, in case there was something obvious.

_I have all day too._

For the next half-candlemark Rothas looked around the forest, and if he had looked left at one point, he would have found himself looking at the women who had been listening to him sing, but instead spun right sharply.

**X-X-X**

Lythe froze when she saw the singer walking through the forest.

_Is he looking for me? Did he know I was listening to him?_ she thought worriedly and watched him walk slowly around the forest.

The man actually got within fifty meters of her when he turned left. She breathed a sigh of relief.

For the rest of the day, Lythe didn't see the man but she heard his once, just after he nearly found her. But eventually twilight came and she finally was able to move from the tree. (_And about damn time too_, she thought.) When Lythe first stood up, she nearly fell back on the ground because her muscles were so stiff. After she stood up, Lythe started walking back towards the lake before she stopped.

_What am I_ doing? _Why am I going back towards the lake where the man was singing? It not like the man should be there but still…_

As she continued to walk, Lythe couldn't understand _why_ she had felt so drawn to the man. She shook her head and tried (unsuccessfully) to get the thought out of her head.

_Before I could only think about the curse, and being so depressed, but now my thought always seem to go back to the mysterious man. It's as if we're… No! We can't be connected! He's long gone by now, anyway!_

Lythe turned to the left and kept going in that direction, determined to go back to her normal way of life. She finally made it out of the forest, she froze, and than turned.

There he was: the man on the rock, singing. Suddenly he stopped and looked at her.

**X-X-X**

After he had abandoned his search, Rothas had found some food to eat, a few candlemarks after noon. He eventually made it back to the rock by the lake with a plan in mind.

Once, when he had been on his search, he could _feel _someone. Not hear. Not see. _Feel. _It was almost as if they linked.

_I have heard of people being "linked," but they were either lifebonded, or Heralds, not that Companions are people. But does that mean I'm lifebonded to a person I haven't even properly seen? _If_ we are, not that we are; lifebonds are _rare, _not for people like Rothas Ashkevron. Anyway, _if _we are, she can probably _"feel"_ me the way I _"felt"_ her. So if I sing on the rock again, she'll come. And if I'm not in a trance anymore, I should be able to see her. Yeah, that should work._

So a candlemark later, he was sitting on the rock, singing. A few minutes later, he saw her walk out of the forest.


	5. Meetings: Part III

**A/N:** Sorry about the length of the chapter! I'll try to get the next one out sooner (tomorrow, hopefully) but you'll have to live with this one now.

I think this chapter is awkward, so don't get too mad if you guys thinkit is. Also, do you guys want me to have more of Rothas' point of veiw? I seem to be writing in Lythe's all the time. Also, do any of you know legends like the one of Windrider, the founding of Valdemar and Sun and Shadow? If you do, can you tell me. They don't have to be from Valdemar either; they can be from Karse or something.

And thanks to **Tessabe** (again), **Amber Stag**, **wizard116**, and **Moonshadow** for reviewing. And **wizard**--the reason both Lythe and Rothas were walking around was because it was at dusk, when the sun is setting, and both of them could walk around then. (Hey, it's in the song Misty wrote so I'll go with it.)

Wow, long A/N! **R&R**

**X-X-X**

_One evening in the twilight e'er his curse could work its will,  
__Sunsinger sang of sunlight by a lake serene and still—  
__When out of the shadows stepped a woman, fey and fair—  
__A woman sweet as twilight, with the shadows in her hair._

She had midnight-black hair, fit with the shadows from which she came, along with dark grey eyes filled with surprise and a great sadness. She stood there in silence, as Rothas had stopped singing.

_Well, since it doesn't look like she is going to make the first move…_ he thought as he stood up. "My name is Rothas Ashkevron," he said, holding a hand out to show he meant no harm to her.

She nodded warily and answered. "I'm Lythe Hyrosan."

"Lythe, that's a nice name," he said quietly, and it was true. But he had a feeling she could have been named _anything _and he would have thought it beautiful. "If you want, I can sing a song at your request… but only if you want, of course!" he added hurriedly. This was an awkward conversation, partly because her face remained blank so Rothas couldn't tell what she was thinking, and because she wasn't speaking either. But, to his relief, she smiled slightly.

"I'd like that. You can pick a song, though."

Rothas nodded and started singing "Shadow-Lover." It seemed appropriate, Lythe seeming to be of Shadows, not to mention Rothas liked the tune. To his surprise, Lythe, after the first two verses, started dancing to the song, and Rothas could honestly say he had never seen a better dancer. He wanted to stop singing completely and just watch her dance. She continued dancing until the song was over.

"That—that was _excellent!_" Rothas exclaimed.

Lythe smiled slightly, and Roth could tell she was modest about her gift. "Do you really think so?"

"Absolutely."

Lythe smiled even more at him and Rothas felt truly happy for the first time since he was cursed.

**X-X-X**

Lythe couldn't move when she saw the singer staring at her. And, it seemed, neither could he. But he finally broke the silence and said—

"My name is Rothas Ashkevron," while holding a hand out to show peace.

She responded with her name cautiously.

"Lythe," he said quietly, nodding. "That's a nice name."

Lythe felt a slight smile on her face. He seemed to be really nice and she couldn't help but feel comfortable around him.

_But he doesn't need to know that. He has to have a reason for being in this dreary forest for three days and it might not be such a good one. He's the first person I've seen stay in this forest in a long time. It's the only reason I stay here, because it _is _uninhabited. _

He seemed slightly uncomfortable, probably from her lack of response.

"If you want, I can sing a song at your request," he said, "but only if you want, of course!"

At this, Lythe gave him a smile. She hadn't danced to a song or tune in a long time, and sorely missed it. It wasn't the same when she danced without a tune.

"I'd like that. You can pick a song, though."

Rothas grinned and started singing.

_"Shadow-Lover,"_ she thought.

Lythe listened to the first two verses, trying to pick up the tune, and then started to dance. She wanted to laugh when he nearly stopped singing when she started dancing, but didn't. As she was dancing, Lythe realize how much she _missed_ dancing to a song, and it seemed completely natural with Rothas. She was soon completely enthralled by her dance, and was oblivious to everything around her, except for a presence in the back of her head. But it was extremely faint, and Lythe could hardly notice it, but it was there, and she couldn't figure out what it was. She knew it hadn't been there before. But she was brought out of her musings when the song ended and so she finished her dance.

"That—that was _excellent!_" Rothas said.

Lythe turned to him with a small smile and asked, "Do you really think so?"

Rothas smiled back. "Absolutely."

For the first time, Lythe gave him a true smile.


	6. Musings

**A/N:** Thanks again to **Tessabe** and **wizard** for reviewing. I updated quickly because of you!

I just want to say, this will **not** be a romance fic. I know Rothas and Lythe are lifebonded, and they will be in this fic, but that's not what this fic is about. It's about their adventures. Besides, I stink at writing romance. Sorry if you wanted romance, but I'm not really going to be writing a lot about it.

**R&R**

**X-X-X**

"Oh, no," Rothas muttered when he saw the sun nearly disappear below the horizon.

Lythe looked at him oddly. "What's wrong," she asked and looked at the waning sun.

Rothas bit his lip. _I'm not sure how she is going to take this, when I tell her about the curse. Gods, my troubles are never ending… _Rothas looked at Lythe again and saw her with an expectant look on her face.

"Well… I'm cursed." _There, I said it now she's going to run off because she thinks it might be contagious. My life just keeps getting better and better._

But to his surprise, she didn't. Instead, she asked, "Cursed, how so?"

"I—I was cursed by a mage a year ago or so and whenever the sun sets and night falls, I fall into an enchanted sleep." He was surprised she had taken it so… so calmly. Then his eyelids started to feel heavier as he began to fall on the ground. He felt his body hit the grass and he knew no more…

Rothas groaned as the sunlight burned right through his eyelids and right into his eyes.

_Ow_, was his only thought. But soon his eyes adjusted to the brightness and he began to think clearly. _Okay, what happened yesterday…?_ This happened everyday when he woke up; his memory was always slightly fuzzy and it took some thought to sort it out. _I met Lythe!_ He smacked himself on the forehead. _How could I_ forget? He looked around. _Where is she? Oh, don't tell me she ran off after I fell asleep. I _knew_ she took the news of the curse too well! Now I'm alone… again… as usual…_ And with out knowing why, or that Lythe had done the same things, he cried a single tear of loneliness.

_He saw her, and he loved her, and he knew his was vain  
__For he was born of sunlight and she must the shadow's bane.  
__So e'er the curse could claim him, then, he shed one bitter tear  
__For he knew his only love must also be his only fear._

Rothas slowly sat up slowly and looked around, to see what to do. Now, even singing had lost its contentment.

_And soon to be followed by ever thing else…_ He smirked bitterly. _As if that hasn't happened yet… _His head shot up. Why _am I so depressed when one person I meet leaves? I mean, why does it matter to me so much that I'm _crying? _I just met her! I knew her not an hour and I'm _crying_ over her! _

"What's _happening _to me!" he screamed in frustration. First he was heart-broken and now he was fuming.

_No! I can't be _lifebonded _to her…! Right…? But how else would I explain how I feel so strongly for her when I met her for not a candlemark? It seems like that is the only possible explanation but… but it doesn't seem like it could actually happen in my life, only in Bards' tales. I need to sit down._

Rothas turned to sit of the rock he was on yesterday and—

_There's writing on it!_

He rushed over to the stone and found the writing was made out of dark colored dust, probably written with a piece of charcoal.

_Meet me at by the lake at dusk tomorrow. I'll explain everything. Lythe._

_What is there to explain, except why she ran off? But she'll probably also want to know more about my curse, too. _He looked at the note again. _Why at dusk? Why not at noon, or another time? She knows after dusk I fall asleep? I guess she'll have to explain about that, as well. _He looked up at the sun. _Oh, yay, only ten more candlemarks until sunset…_

**X-X-X**

Lythe yawned as she woke up. After a quick glance out of her cave showed the sun was setting, she hurried out of the cavern to the rock where she was supposed to meet Rothas.

_I can't believe that Rothas has a curse on him too, except it's the exact opposite of mine; he can't go out at night while I can't go out during the day. Did the same mage curse us both? I can find out now at least…_

She looked up to see Rothas' angelic face only a few meters in front of her, sitting on the rock.

"Hello, Rothas," she said quietly, sitting down beside him. "I suppose I have some explaining to do…?"


	7. Histories

**A/N: **Sorry for the long-ish wait but my stupid floopy disk lost all my _Sun and Shadow_ files. But it's up now at least. In your review, can you tell me** Is** **the story is going too fast or too slow? Or do you think it's going at a good speed? **

Also, the next chapter is going to take awhile because I need a filler chapter before I can post my next planned chapter. If I don't have a filler, the story, I think, will go too fast. So be prepared for a long wait. Sorry.

And thanks to **wizard**, **Tessabe**, and **Andi **for reviewing.

**X-X-X**

Lythe paused speaking for a moment to think about what she was going to say. "You see," she started, "I'm cursed too. I was cursed by a Mage—probably the same Mage as that cursed you—to die if sunlight ever touches me."

"Is that why you seemed so calm after I told you I was cursed?" Rothas inquired.

"Yes," Lythe said. "I was cursed about a year ago… ten or eleven months." Lythe winced inwardly at the memory. "Since then, I stayed in this forest, away from civilization. That is also why I couldn't meet you before this."

Rothas nodded, digesting the information. "What happened before you were cursed?" he asked.

"I was born in the town of Allafawn; my mother died giving birth, so my father raised me. He was a middle-class blacksmith," she said, remembering her father sorrowfully. His love, caring nature, and effort to do the best for her and her brother, even if it made time for little else. "Since he had two children to take care of—my older brother and I—he was always in his forge for long hours. Most days he would come home until dinner, or even later, and leave after an early breakfast, or at least by what I can remember." Lythe smiled slightly as she remembered how she would always get up as the sun was rising to eat with her father. Then, half of the time, she would fall asleep while eating. "Because of that, my brother practically raised me, but my father always made it up when he came home. I could always tell he loved us despite the fact that he was rarely around.

"As I got older, I started helping around the house, cooking and cleaning. Eventually, however, my brother moved out of the house after he married, and most days I was alone, though my father was home more often. I was about thirteen by then. It was also around that time that I discovered my talent with dancing. Then my father paid for lessons with Gilsa." She then looked at Rothas. "It might not sound like a lot, but it was." Here she paused, reminiscing. "The lessons didn't last very long; according to Gilsa I was a 'natural dancer.' But I still went to her house often. I had never had a mom, and she ended up making up for that. Oddly enough, with my dancing I have managed to… hypnotize people almost. It was like I put them under a spell and they wouldn't wake up until I had stopped. My brother and I tried different things with it, and it turns put only a near-death situation would pull them out of the trance."

Rothas nodded when she became silent, digesting the information. How did you become cursed?" he questioned.

"Almost a year ago—like I already said—I was headed to my brother's house in Deercreek, a town south of here. I always made a yearly visit there to see him every now and then," Lythe said sadly.

"I've heard of Deercreek; it's not to far from here, actually," Rothas noted thoughtfully.

Lythe cracked a small smile at the randomness of the sentence. "Now it's your turn," she said then.

Rothas looked confused. "My turn to do what?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "To tell me how you were cursed, and of your childhood."

"Right," he said with a smile grin. "My turn to do that."

**X-X-X**

"I was born in the town of Forst Meadow," Rothas said the next evening. Before he had started talking yesterday, he had fallen into the cursed sleep, so Lythe came back to the rock the next dusk, today, and found Rothas here waiting. After a brief introduction, he had started on his history.

"It's actually a pretty big town… I was an only child. Let's see… my parents. My dad was the mayor off the town and had been for years. The townspeople never saw a reason to get a new mayor… I never understood why. My mom didn't have a job, but she was a very good singer. I think she might have had a Bardic Gift, a really small one.

"Up until I was fourteen or so, I would spend my days running around with my friends, going to school and helping around the house when my mom forced me. Around that time, we were having a party at our house. My mom was going to sing that night for entertainment, but she ended up getting a fever and couldn't. So I offered to sing. I had never been as good as my mom, but I was decent and knew all the songs. Except that night, when I started singing, I was even better than my mom. It seemed my Gift had awakened in between the last time I sang and the party. I, of course, had never noticed… but then again, I'm not sure how I would have noticed before then.

"I later found out I could channel with my voice." At Lythe's confused expression he continued. "I could direct emotions, energy, those types of things, through my voice. If I was singing, I could do that.

"When were you cursed?" Lythe wondered.

"I'm getting to that. After I found I could channel, I went to the town herb-healer. Though the healer did have a tiny bit of the Healing Gift, it was so small it was virtually useless. I wanted to lend a hand; I thought I could help out a little because I could channel. The healer was overjoyed to have help. He would joke 'The people of this town only know how to hurt themselves and nothing more.' Sometimes I thought that was true in the summer when all of the little kids were running around and playing like mad."

"Weren't you one of those 'little kids were running around and playing like mad' too?"

Rothas pretended to look offended. "I have the privilege of being one who never went to the healer's before I went to help out."

"I am sure."

Rothas mock-glared at her. "Anyway, like I said before I was so _rudely_ interrupted, I helped out at the healer's. I did that for a few years and learned how to use all the herbs. I probably could have taken over his position if he had left. Around then was when I decided to go to Haven. Everyone thought I was a Bard, or at least had the Gift, so I was headed towards the Colligium." His previous light mood turned gloomy. "That's when I was cursed."

Lythe nodded and both of them sat in silence, and yet it was okay. Nothing more was needed to be said. Out of all the people in the world, these two were the only ones who could truly understand each other.


	8. Forest Fires

**A/N: **I think the last chapter stunk, so I'll probably repost it sometimes. But I'm glad you guys think the story is going well. Thank to **Wizard**, **Tessabe**, and **Moondance k'Treva** for reviewing too.

Tessabe--When I was writing the last chapter, it didn't seem important to say exactly how Rothas and Lythe got cursed. But I might eventually write an interlude or one-shot about it one day.

**This is important. I have about fourteen people on my author alert list, but over half of them have never reviewed a story. I would much rather have a review than be on someone's list, so please review. And, if you don't, I don't know which story to update.**

**X-X-X**

For the next two weeks, Rothas and Lythe would meet by the rock every night, but they could only see each other for a few minutes before Rothas' curse took over.

In a way, Lythe wished she had never met Rothas, because every time she left him, it felt like she was being torn in two. But when they did talk, when they were together, she would have the best time she had had in a long time. Lythe wasn't sure if it was worth it to be torn in two for the contentment she had never had before in her life. But she never could not show up, not after what Rothas had told her one evening …

_Rothas and Lythe were just sitting near the rock, looking at the lake—or at least Lythe was. She looked up to see what Rothas was doing and saw him staring intently at her. It was making her feel slightly uncomfortable._

_"Yes?" Lythe asked quietly, breaking Rothas out of his spell. He immediately turned away, red-faced and embarrassed. _

_"Oh, sorry …" he said._

_He was silent after that, but Lythe saw Rothas glancing at her every half minute or so. _

What is wrong with him? _she thought, but had a slight idea._

_"Are you okay, Rothas?"_

_"Yes, but—I—ah—" Rothas quickly turned away and said it was nothing._

_"I'm sure. What's wrong?"_

_"Well," he said and slowly turned around to face the lake, "it's not that there's something wrong, but … it just that—that …"_

_"That _what_?" Lythe asked, exasperated. He was acting like some boy who was too afraid to tell someone—_

It can't be! _she thought._

_"It's just that"—he looked at her and didn't turn away, she was glad—"no one has ever made me … feel like I do now … with you …" Red-faced, he muttered something but she couldn't hear him. It didn't matter though. She knew what he meant._

_And that she felt that way too._

It had been that night that had put the thoughts of stopping these little meetings out of her mind. That had been three days ago, and now Lythe was getting up from her spot where she and Rothas met. He had fallen asleep a few minutes ago, and she had been sitting here, thinking about that night.

_I might as well leave now, _she thought._ Nothing else is going to happen here._

For the next fifteen minutes, Lythe walked thoughtlessly around the forest, not going anywhere, just walking. She had nothing else to do, and it was hours before she would have to go back in the cave she slept in.

But as Lythe walked, she started to notice some things. The animals, normally sleeping at this time, where all running in circles. It looked like that knew something was happening—something that Lythe couldn't tell what it was—and they didn't know where to go.

_What's wrong with them …? _Then a few deer shot past Lythe, nearly knocking her over as they bolted. _They were running form something, but what? At least I know the direction._

Lythe started running in the direction the deer had come from, and didn't find anything suspicious. As far as she could tell, there were no people or animals to disturb them, so Lythe couldn't figure out what had scared the deer. Suddenly a gust of wind blew in the direction and right in her face. With it, came huge amounts of smoke.

Lythe started coughing as the smoke had filled her lungs before she knew what was happening. But now she knew what had scared the deer—a forest fire. Anyone who lived next to or in a forest knew how dangerous they were. It could destroy a forest with in minutes, depending on the size and weather. Luckily for Lythe, it had just rained, so much of the wood in the forest was wet, making it hard to catch fire. Unfortunately, it made much more smoke when it did catch fire.

_I have to get out of here! _Lythe thought desperately, and started running in the direction she came from. But then she remembered— _Rothas! I have to save him! He'll be killed if he doesn't leave. Damn it! _Lythe knew even if he was dying, Rothas would not wake up—she would have to go back for him.

Lythe ran even faster towards the lake, tripping occasionally, but that only made her go faster, thinking how a fire could do much worse to her. She got to Rothas and the lake in a few minutes, but it felt like her side was about to explode. Lythe knew she wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

_How can I save him if I can barely move? I can't even save myself!_

While Lythe was gasping, trying to get her breath back, she turned around and tried to see exactly where the fire was coming from. What she saw was not what she expected.

The lake was huge, and for about twenty yards around it, there were no trees, but the grass was quite high as a result, reaching to her knees. The fire was nearly at the border where the trees stopped and the lake began.

She had to move.

Lythe ran towards Rothas, ignoring the pain in her side. Now she was running on adrenalin alone. Lythe tried to pick up Rothas but it was impossible, he was taller and more well-built than her. It made it impossible for her to pick him up. If he was awake and could cling around her neck, it might work, but not if he was asleep. Lythe then grabbed Rothas' arms and started running backwards. This, surprisingly, worked. Not very well, but it worked. In a short time, she was entering the forest. Lythe gave one sorrowful look at the lake, and walked in.

Lythe would have gone in the lake, but she couldn't swim. Somehow, she had always been too busy, and not living right next to water.

Lythe desperately dragged Rothas, silently apologizing for probably tearing up his back, being dragged across the ground. But she kept running, only trying to go away from the fire. Lythe kept running, but many times would stumble, or Rothas would have his foot caught. She ran and ran. And kept running, but soon it slowed to walking. Then Lythe collapsed on the ground, Rothas beside her. She could barely move, too weak. Rothas was in a cursed sleep. They were going to die. The fire started closing in around them, surrounding them on all sides.

_Funny, I didn't know fire could travel that fast._

The fire got closer and closer … something was building up inside her … she could feel the heat … the force built up … the heat got more intense … something exploded inside her. Something—energy—escaped for her and exploded outwards.

There was light … and coolness … and then nothing …


	9. Prisoners

**A/N: **Inspiration finally struck. I like this version of the chapter a lot more than the old ones. I hope you enjoy it too. It's twice as long as the lastchapter and the longest chapter post to date. I hope it makes up for the time it to post it. **Read and Review!**

**X-X-X**

Rothas woke up slowly, acutely aware a burning pain on his arm. It hurt. He sat up trying to avoid using the pained arm, and looked at it. His right arm was scorched from his fingertips to about halfway up his forearms. Rothas attempted bending one of his fingers and gasped sharply, barely containing himself from crying out.

_I don't want to experiment with that arm anymore …_

With a shaky breath, Rothas stood up and looked around. It was dim. The only light he could see was coming from an opening … with metal bars.

Rothas ran to the opening.

He was in a prison cell. A prison cell made for prisoners. Which meant he was a prisoner. But why? His mind was working slowly right now. Last he remembered, he had been talking to Lythe—

_Lythe! Where is she?_ he thought, now in a slight panic that he hadn't had when he was thinking about the cell. He looked around his prison, but it was empty. Rothas pushed his head against the metal bars and darted his eyes everywhere.

She had to be somewhere.

Then he saw her. Actually, Rothas couldn't see Lythe's body, but he saw a patch of black hair, too dark to be a shadow, sticking out from the cell on his right.

This relieved him … slightly. He knew _where_ Lythe was, but not what condition she was in. For all Rothas knew, she could be dead, or in a coma, or dying of blood loss, or—

_Stop thinking like that!_ he ordered himself, trying to get ride of his anxiety. _Just try and wake her up. If she doesn't respond, the answer could be as simple as she's unconscious, or something similar to that. _

"Lythe," Rothas called quietly, trying not to alert any guards, if there were any. "Lythe, wake up … Wake up, Lythe!" At the last call, Lythe stirred, but change otherwise, so he tried once more, this time his voice being a near-shout. "Lythe!" Lythe, or her patch of dark hair, moved so suddenly, Rothas was sure she had jumped up from surprise. At least she was awake though. Now he called her more quietly. "Lythe, are you awake now?"

Rothas heard her grumble something and then, sarcastically and loudly, "How could I not be awake with you screaming in my ear?"

"Shhh!" Rothas exclaimed. "You don't want to get caught, do you?"

Rothas could almost see her confused face as Lythe asked, "What do you mean? What do you mean, 'get caught?'"

"We were captured, kidnapped, something! We're both in prison cells. I have a feeling whoever caught us doesn't want us yelling though."

Lythe was silent, obviously thinking about what he had just said. She finally said after a silence, "When do you think we'll find out who our … _captor _is?"

Rothas was just about to respond when—

"Right now, actually." The amused voice echoed in the dungeon, but behind the amusement hid something more sinister.

"Who are you?" Rothas called out, his voice echoing back in forth like a never-ending shout. "Where are you?"

Rothas could feel the delight of his kidnapper and knew he was smiling. "Don't you hate it when you have no way to defend yourself? When you have to bow down to some unknown power? When you have no control and are at someone else's mercy?" The amusement was still evident in the voice, and with the constant echo, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, like some kind of _god_. "Like you are now, Rothas Ashkevron … '_beloved_' …"

_How could he know my name! He—he must have read my mind or something! But I don't feel any different. Am I even supposed to?_

"How did you know my name? And what was with the 'beloved' part?" Rothas asked angrily, loudly. He hoped his voice didn't betray any of his alarm or tension.

"You don't know your own namesake, _ashke_? How pitiful. Surely you would know who, or rather what you were named after?" The accusation bounced off the walls and attacked Rothas again and again. Over and over.

He tried to ignore it. Rothas could feel the arrogance rolling off the man in waves. He could almost see smug smirk on his face with his upper hand in this form of a battle. But he didn't dare answer. He just might do something stupid, something unknown to offend to other man. The man may have just been playing with Rothas now, but Rothas knew this man was powerful.

"Haven't you heard of the _Tayledras_, of the Hawkbrothers?"

Rothas couldn't let the man think he was some idiot! He had to answer. "They live in the Pelagiris Forest and are mages. They do who-knows-what and abduct children to train for themselves."

Rothas could feel the man frown and fake disappointment, but he still hadn't shown his face. "They are much more than that, _ashke_, much more. But I doubt you would understand."

Rothas wanted to strike out at the invisible enemy for that. He had called him brainless right in from of him. Maybe he hadn't actually said that word, but it was clearly implied.

"In _Tayledras_, the Hawkbrother's tongue, _ashke_ means …" Rothas held his breath as the man dragged on the moment. "… beloved."

"What?" The word echoed back and forth, loudly enough it hurt Rothas' ears.

"Calm yourself, _ashke_. There is no need to get angry." The voice remained as calm as ever, but the amusement was back. "You should be honor I call you such. It is a rare pleasure."

By now, Rothas wanted to tear of his cage door and attack the man with everything he had. It, unfortunately, would be neither possible nor smart. "I am not your 'beloved' so don't you dare call me so!"

Rothas felt the man's glee intensify and felt him smirked. "I am afraid, _ashke_, you don't have much of a choice, now do you?"

Rothas could barely restrain himself from lashing out at the man, but that was only because it would do much more harm than good, not that he even could do it anyway. "How did I end up here?" he asked as calmly as he could. When the man did not answer, he only got angrier. "Tell me!" There was silence as the last of Rothas' echoes died away.

"Now be nice, _ashke_, and ask politely."

Rothas could have strangled he man if he could see him. "Please tell me," he managed to say.

"There, isn't that better?" Rothas did not respond. "Lately, I have been on the look out for powerful mages. At the moment, I have only look as far as the borders of Valdemar, and did not expect to find any Masters or Adepts outside of Haven." Rothas was already confused by the man's terms of Master and Adept, but stayed silent—he was finally hearing how he got here. "Imagine my surprise when looking on the eastern border of Valdemar, I feel a powerful release of mage-energy on the opposite side of the country. It, of course, was quite powerful, having drawn my attention while I was in a meditative state and looking far elsewhere. I was able to quickly find the epicenter of the energy though it had long gone, and even more to my surprise, I find two people trapped in a forest fire about to die from the flames, unconscious."

_The burn on my right arm …_ Rothas glance down at it, but in the dim light it was hard to see anything. That means Lythe must have been trying to save—Lythe!

"What happened to Lythe?" Rothas exclaimed, interrupting the man as he was just about to continue. He felt slight anger at being interrupted from the man. "Please!" Rothas begged. He didn't care how pitiful he sounded. This was about more than the man and Rothas' pride. It was about Lythe's _life_.

"Well, since you asked so nicely, I put a spell on her to put her to sleep and not wake up for a few hours, but she is on no permanent harm, don't worry. There is no point in killing you before I run out of use for you."

Rothas chilled at the thought, and then realized the _man_ was a _mage_. "You're a mage!" Rothas exclaimed once again.

"Of course," said the mage. "Wasn't it obvious? But to a simpleton like you, I suppose not."

Rothas wanted to lash out at him but restrained himself. He still needed to know how he had gotten here and what the mage was planning on doing with him.

There was more silence as the mage seemed to wait to see if he would do anything. This was as maddening as having himself insulted, not to mention he could feel the mage's glee growing. But, soon enough, he started with his story again.

"Let's see, where was I before I was interrupted …? I quick banished the flames and sent an underling to gather you as I scryed and watched you. It was obvious one of you, if not both were the source of the burst of magic. So I waited for my underling to return with you, and soon enough, he did. You can imagine how surprised I was once I looked over you with Mage Sight"—Mage Sight, another word Rothas didn't understand—"and found quite a few things. First, you both were under a mage's curse. You, _ashke_, are cursed to fall into a cursed sleep whenever then sun goes down. Your _Lythe_ is cursed to die if sunlight ever touches her. Quite interesting, no?"

"I can't say myself it's to interesting considering I'm the one who has to bear the burden of the curse while you just observe!" Rothas couldn't help but blurt that out, despite the stupidity of it.

The mage seemed to shake his head as he said, "Tut, tut, tut, _ashke_. The first thing we are going to work on is your temper."

_What the hell does he mean work on my temper? Is he going to enslave me or—?_

"I am not going to enslave you," the mage interrupted, as if reading his mind. He sighed in disappointment at something and then, "After I scanned you, I not only found the curses, but also two powerful Mage Gifts. Both of you, in fact, have Mage Gifts. Strong enough to be Adepts."

_I'm a mage?_ Rothas thought with wonder, and a slight sense of dread. Out of all the things he saw himself being, a _mage_ was the last one. Before he cold carry this train of thought any further, he blurted out another question. "But how did you know my name?"

The mage gave a chilling smile and said, "After I had looked over you with Mage Sight, I used my Thought-Sensing Gift to look through your mind … I know everything about you, _ashke_. Everything you ever wanted to forget, every mistake you ever made. _Everything_."

Rothas went pale at the thought.

"So now you have two choices, _ashke_." The mage stepped into the light in front of Rothas' cell. There was only one word to describe him. Untouchable. Gorgeous. God-like.

He had hair as white as the purest snow, coming down to the middle of his back, parts braided in the most intricate designs Rothas had every seen, with other parts his hair flowing down so smoothly and straightly there had to be magic involved. He wore elegant layers of silk in pitch-black and the darkest gray. It was highlighted in a red as dark as blood that gave the mage an ominous appearance.

"You can join me, and I will break your curse, train you to be a mage, and I can give you … anything else you ever desired."

At the last part, Rothas faintly felt his blood chill. But somehow, the mage was working some kind of spell with his voice, and it was entrancing Rothas. He could hardly feel anything else.

"Or," the mage said just as silkily, quietly, "you may die." Now the voice continued strong as ever. "I think, _ashke_, the choice is clear. If you ally yourself with me, I will not even rule you; we will be equals. You could have the life you always wanted." The mage's voice became silkily, quiet. "So what is your choice?"

Everything in Rothas' mind urged him, almost forced him, to say yes. Yes, he would give himself up to the mage, mind, body, and soul. Yes, he would bow down to the mage, do what ever he wanted. Yes—

_No! I can't. I must be casting some type of spell. Some mind-bewitchment. I just have to say—_

Sounds came out of Rothas' mouth as his mind and will fought, but no answers. If he had been focusing on the outside world, Rothas would have noticed the mage was getting more and more agitated by the second. "… No!" Rothas exclaimed gasping. "I won't join you or do anything that comes with it!"

The mage's anger flared. "Fine," he snarled, his beautiful facer twisting into one of anger. "Choose no for now, but eventually you will say yes with all your heart, _ashke_. Until then, I will be sure to give your Lythe that same choice, but I don't know how well she will fare!" With that the mage left.

_What have I done! He is going to bewitch Lythe into saying yes. I must have some sort of resistance as a Bard, but she … She is going to say yes! She won't know what she's getting into. Oh, Lythe, I'm sorry. I truly am …_

And Rothas was left in darkness.


	10. Escapes

**A/N: **Sorry I haven't updated in so long, but school start for me on August 24 and it really hasn't put me in a mood to write. But I forced myself to write this, but I don't think it's very good. **Review anyway!**

And thank you to **Robin Reen**, **vanyelashke89**, **catwraith **(thanks for pointing out the mistakes - I made sure to fix them), **wishingIcould thinkofsomething**, and **loonyloonylupin** for reviewing. I never got so many reviews for one chapter!I think, at least.

**X-X-X**

Rothas paced around his cell, as he had been doing for at least the last candlemark. He knew Lythe still hadn't awakened, and, at the moment, was at a loss of what to do. He wanted to try to escape, try to use his new Mage Gift to blast down the cell door, try to do something!

But he couldn't. Not without Lythe.

The mage hadn't come back to bewitch Lythe. Yet. It was like a race against time but Rothas hadn't even started.

If he tried to use his Mage Gift, he might set some alarm which Rothas would have preferred to go off when they escaped, not when he was practicing. He couldn't let the mage know he was using it, and that left him nothing to do.

Rothas groan again like he had many times in the last candlemark and continued to pace.

**X-X-X**

Lythe blinked and found she had a pounding headache. Lythe closed her eyes and found in wonder she was wide-awake, not still sleepy. But when had she gone to sleep? The last thing she remembered was talking to Rothas …

_Did something happen to Rothas? _she thought suddenly, but it made her head flare in pain even to think.

So Lythe slowly sat up, being careful to not jar her head and cause her unnecessary pain. When she finally sat up, she felt a wave of dizziness and moaned.

"Lythe?" It was Rothas, his voice quiet and cautious.

"Rothas? What—"

"Oh, Lythe. Finally! Now we can escape! I …"

Lythe felt her headache grow worse as Rothas continued to talk. She really needed silence right now to she think.

"Rothas!" she whispered harshly.

"What?" he asked, mildly confused.

"Please slow down and explain slowly. I have a horrid headache and you're making it worse."

"I'm sorry, Lythe. I—ah—I was just saying," he started, now sounding awkward, "how now that your awake, we can escape these cells."

"What? How?" she exclaimed ignoring her pain.

"Our captor talked to me."

"When did that happen?"

"We were talking and he put you under a spell to make you fall asleep. Then he explained to me how we were caught, and how we both had Mage Gifts."

_That _does_ explain a lot, _she thought._ The energy I felt inside me when there was the forest fire. That must have been my Mage Gift. I probably deflected the fire somehow, because Rothas and I had just been about to die. And that does explain how I woke up wide awake._

"But how would we escape?" Lythe asked. "You don't know how to use your Mage Gift."

"No …" Rothas said quietly. "I don't."

Now Lythe felt horrible because he had sounded so excited before, but now he sounded so dejected.

"Well—I … did use mine once," Lythe said, painfully noticing the high pitch-ness and hesitancy of her own voice.

"When?" Rothas asked, breathlessly.

"The forest fire. It—it was just about to burn us alive when I somehow repelled it and then fainted. Next thing I knew I was in this cell, but know I'm certain that was my Gift."

"So you could use it again?"

"I—I don't know," Lythe said, knowing this was nothing less than the truth, even though it would hurt Rothas. "But I can try."

"That's all I'm asking."

**X-X-X**

"That's all I'm asking," Rothas had said, but that violently contradicted what he was thinking in his head.

_You can't _try_, you have to _do_ it. If you don't we'll both die!_

But Rothas held his tongue as Lythe said to him quietly, "I'm ready." Rothas could feel the worry and apprehension of Lythe. He wondered what the apprehension was about. Not being able to tear down their cell doors?

_Please Lythe, be able to do it. Please!_ he thought just before he saw a blinding light Lythe's attempt at mage-craft.. It illuminated the dark prison and forced Rothas to cover his eyes. Within a few seconds, the light had died down and Rothas was able to open his eyes—to see Lythe leaning against the wall outside his cell.

"Lythe! You were able to do it!" he exclaimed.

She turned to him gave a smile, but it was obvious that had tired her. He was just about to ask if she was okay when she said, "I don't need to look for keys. These doors are locked by magery, not a key."

"So can you knock it down?" Rothas asked.

"I think so," she said, but Rothas felt doubt and desperation coming off of her in waves.

Rothas covered his eyes and but saw light through his eyelids anyway. A crash soon followed and he opened his eyes.

_It's a good thing I was in the back of the cell. _

The metal door had been burned and twisted and now laid a foot in front of Rothas. If he hadn't stepped back, he would have been crushed _and_ burned by the door.

He looked up and saw Lythe looking worse than she had before, now pale and sitting on the ground, breathing heavily. Rothas quickly stepped around the red-hot metal and kneeled next to Lythe.

"I'm fine," Lythe said before Rothas could say anything. "Just let me sit here for a minute."

"I don't believe you," Rothas said, worried. He could feel Lythe's exhaustion easily.

"But it wouldn't matter if you did, because we have to go _now_."

Rothas hesitantly nodded, knowing she was right. "Okay, let's go."

The two ran out of the prison and found themselves in a labyrinth of hallways. They were indistinguishable from one another apart from the occasional door. It seemed as if this was made just to confuse those who didn't know their way around.

"What are we going to do?" Lythe whispered. It seemed inappropriate to talk to too loud.

"I don't know," Rothas replied. He took another step and, for one second, was surrounded by light. It quickly dimmed.

_Oh no._

He was in another prison cell, this time with another prisoner. He had very strange, short sliver hair for someone who looked to be in his twenties. He was on the floor unconscious, covered in numerous bruises and cut, but some of those bruises could have just been dirt.

Light flooded the room and Rothas quickly turned around to see Lythe right behind him, obviously have come into the cell the same way he did. She glanced around and whispered, "Where are we?"

Rothas silently moved from in front of her and she saw the man, and gasped.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps and Rothas felt a familiar being.

The mage.


	11. Entrapments

**A/N:** Sorry for the really long update, but you got a long-ish chapter. I can't really think of anything else to say, so enjoy!

Thank you to** loonyloonylupin** _(thanks--your reviews was one of the most encouraging)_, **wishingIcouldthinkofsomething, catwraith** _(thank you for pointing out the mistakes--I did fix them too)_, **vanyelashke89** (not much did happen to Lythe, did it),** RobinReen** _(thanks for the review--I didn't mind it being short)_, **Songwind k'Vala** _(sorry but I can't update more regularly--you'll have to get used to it)_, **and Carrie S.** _(what did you mean when youm said it was blown out by the new canon--can you give me a title)_.

**X-X-X**

"Lythe, we have to hide!" Rothas said suddenly, turning around to face Lythe.

"But why?" she asked.

_Of course, _Rothas thought._ She doesn't know the mage is coming_. "The mage—the one that captured us—is coming. We have to hide!"

"How do you know?"

"It doesn't matter! We have to go!" Rothas grabbed Lythe by the arm and quickly led her to the spot he knew they came in by with the beam of light. They stepped on it.

Nothing happened.

Nothing happened, and the mage was coming closer.

Rothas pushed Lythe to the transportation spot and let go, hoping it would work with just one person, instead of two.

It didn't.

Now Rothas could feel that the mage was nearly at the door. He looked around desperately for another place to hide.

The dungeon looked to be made of one prison cell and with no shelf or anything to hide behind. Rothas once again glanced at the door where the mage would enter in probably ten seconds. Then he saw. Beside the main door to this dungeon was a hallway, but Rothas hadn't seen it before because the dim light made the dark-colored wall all blend with each other, and hide any passages that hid behind the walls.

Rothas ran and dragged Lythe along, who, surprisingly, didn't make a sound when Rothas suddenly jerked her along even though he felt her jump in surprise. She obviously understood the danger they were in.

They were able to enter to hall way and go across the turn that was only about five feet from the main door of the dungeon. It seemed as if they had barely made it out of sight when the door slid open, and Rothas felt the presence of the mage even more clearly.

Rothas heard the mage mutter something and then coughing. Rothas had to wince at the intensity of the coughs, but luckily they didn't last long.

_It must have been of the silver-haired man._

The mage spoke up. "Hello, Vrail. How have you been?" The mage's voice still had the silkily, smooth tone that he had spoken to Rothas in. Rothas hated it.

Vrail said something, but it was too quiet to hear form the hallway.

"That is too bad, but I am sure we will work around _that_." The mage's tone was light, as if he and Vrail were friends, and they did this often. "This is your last chance, Vrail …"

This time, Rothas heard Vrail's response. "No."

A sudden anger flared from the mage, making Rothas wince, because with it, came a sense of sick, perverted pleasure, but Rothas did not know why.

The mage thundered outside the door. Not a second later, two guards came to stand inside the doorway. All Rothas could think of was how hopeless this now seemed. They would have to stay here until the guards left, and by that time, the mage would be back and Rothas did not what to know what would happened then.

He looked at Lythe and found her sitting on the ground, starting blankly at the wall. Then he sunk to the ground. It felt like he was the most burdened person in the world right now, and he had a feeling that would not change for a long while. His only comfort was that Lythe would be right there with him.

**X-X-X**

Lythe couldn't believe what had happened to her in the last day. She had nearly gotten burnt to death in a forest fire, only to be saved by her Mage Gift, then captured by some insane mage, and now she as stuck in some hallway and would have to listen to some man being tortured.

_At least Rothas is here … _

But she still felt a dark mood that seemed to tell her she would die no matter what, that life wasn't worth living, or trying to live. Just like those moods she had been in before she met Rothas, before he had been her candle in the dark.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to go to her mother and cry. It was like she was trapped in a situation where so much was expected of her, but she knew she could do none of it.

The door slammed open. The mage was back. The torture was to begin.

Lythe felt as if she was alone now, but she didn't understand why. She could feel Rothas sitting next to her, but in her heart she felt like the loneliest person in the world.

And now she really did cry. Tears ran down her face, her nose began to stuff, she had a lump in her throat, but she made no sound. But she still cried, because no one was there.

Lythe jumped slightly when Rothas put his arms around her, but didn't resist. She just let the tears pour down her face and be hugged by Rothas.

A scream cut through the silence in the dungeon, one of intense, unreal pain. Rothas jumped to his feet immediately, and Lythe subsequently followed.

Another heart-wrenching scream.

Now it felt like Lythe was being stabbed.

Another.

She tried to somehow, impossibly, close her ears.

"Lythe!" Rothas whispered to her. "We have to do something! We have to help him!"

"What?" was Lythe's automatic response. He wanted them to risk there lives—no, surely get themselves killed—for a stranger they didn't even know. She wanted to help him too, yes, but it would do no good. They would get killed, fighting against two guards and a mage with nothing but their untrained Gifts, not to mention the rest of the guards throughout the building. It would be impossible.

Another scream.

"Lythe, please! I can't stay here and listen and I know you can't either!"

"We don't even know him—we can't—we'll lose—we'll—"

Another scream.

"Die …" Lythe finished, but know she wasn't so sure. It was killing her standing here, but was it worse than being killed?

"Please …"

Lythe looked up at Rothas' crystal eyes. She couldn't say no. She had to say—

"Yes."

**X-X-X**

Rothas expected another scream right then, but instead all he heard was the hard breathing of both Vrail and the mage. But, to Rothas' surprise, the mage left, but not before sneering, "Where is your strength now, oh Valdemar's Heir?"

Rothas looked at Lythe and saw and felt agreement from her. All they had to face were two guards and then they could free Vrail. A part of him asked what would they do then, but he ignored it. Now was a bad time.

The two walked around the corner, only to be seen immediately by the guards. They charged at them with their swords. Lythe started dancing, not to a tune, but to something, and the guards stopped moving. Lythe continued to dance faster and Rothas felt something coming from her, increasing as she danced faster, and whatever it was, it had made the guards drop their weapons and look at Lythe blindly, not aware of anything else around them.

He ran past the entranced guards—he knew Lythe couldn't keep that up for long—and ran straight into where Vrail was lying on the ground. Vrail looked up at him, and Rothas looked down. He was now covered in all sorts of burns over most of his visible body. Rothas could easily guess what had happened. Despair and hopelessness radiated from Vrail in waves like Rothas had never felt before, but then he felt Lythe, and knew she was weakening quickly.

Rothas didn't know, and wouldn't ever know, why he did that. It seemed almost instinctual, like it was the right thing to do. He couldn't understand why either, it just was.

He just did it. He just sang.

It was a song, but not one with words. A melody, but not a definable one. It was like something Rothas had never done before and he would never do it again.

He continued to sing, and as he did, he felt energy leave him. Energy he didn't know he had and energy he knew he would need, but he didn't stop, he couldn't—all he could do was sing, because that's all that mattered at that moment.

He was faintly aware of Vrail's pale face getting color back and his weak limbs getting strength back, but he didn't stop. It wasn't until Vrail had gotten up steadily did Rothas stop.

Vrail looked at him, and what Rothas felt was better than any thanks he could have ever received. Vrail, he knew, was more thankful of them than he could ever say, and Rothas felt him mood lighten, like his task wasn't nearly as enormous anymore., A weight was lifted from his shoulders.

He turned to see the two guards faint and fall onto the floor, and saw an even-paler Lythe step over them. She walked towards them, and only then did Vrail say, "I am—" when the mage walked back into the room, a shocked, but pleased look on his face.


	12. Heralds

**A/N:** I'm kind of disappointed with the reviews, but I decided to update early. If you want me to update early again, **review**.

But for those who _did_ review, thanks to **ChaosLightning13** and **catwraith**.

**X-X-X**

Rothas couldn't believe he had missed the mage's entrance, and he knew it could cost them their lives.

All that for nothing …

Vrail suddenly stood up and glared at the mage. Anger and rage were the only two emotions in Vrail now, as far as Rothas felt. He knew he was about to attack the mage.

"Silveous, where is Darshay?" Vrail said in an anger-laced voice. But beyond the anger was a sense of nobility and power too.

Despite Vrail's obvious rage, the mage—Silveous—just looked at Vrail with amusement. "Do you expect me to take a half-dead mage seriously—though I must admit I am surprised you are even standing."

The anger in Vrail flared, and before Rothas or Lythe could do anything, Silveous threw three bolts of lightning from his hands and one hit Rothas in an eye blink. For a split-second, he felt an immense burning pain, but than he was knocked out and given peace from the very blast that had caused him the enormous pain.

**X-X-X**

Lythe felt like she was in a dream. She just seemed to be floating in place. It was quiet except for the occasional, indistinct voice here and there. Maybe she was in a dream …

She floated for what seemed like hours until one clear, feminine voice talked to her. No, it didn't talk, but announce.

_:My name is Natari, and I have Chosen you, Lythe. Now go to sleep; you still have much healing to do …:_

Lythe felt herself fall into a deep sleep, where she floated no more.

**X-X-X**

There was light. A lot of light.

Lythe covered her eyes with her hand. After spending so long in the dungeon, her eyes were obviously having much trouble adjusting to the change.

_What …?_ Lythe thought, confused. She couldn't be in the dungeon anymore—there was no light in there. All she remember was being hit by a bolt from the mage—Silveous, she thought—and being knocked out.

Lythe opened her eyes suddenly and immediately closed them again. The light was very bright. This time, she slowly opened her eyes and let them get adjusted to the light. When her eye finally did, she looked around the room she was in.

She was lying in a bed covered with plain white sheets and beside her was a small table with a candle, for now unlit. There was another table of to the side of the room beside the door, and on it were some medical supplies—some dried herbs—jewelweed, which was used to treat burns and itches from nettle, if she had learned from Rothas correctly—strips of gauze, a small bowl of water and a few other miscellaneous supplies. Lythe turned to the other side of the room; all that was there was a window with light coming through and landing directly onto her and her bed.

She felt all the blood drain form her face and her breathing stop. The curse. _Her _curse. She would_ die_ if light touched her, and here it was touching her, but she was still alive.

_How is this possible …?_ she thought, still not breathing.

_:Because I broke the curse.:_

Lythe gasped when the voice that wasn't heard by her ears appeared.

She could not believe this. She must have been dreaming. The curse was irremovable. She was stuck with it forever. And she couldn't hear voices without her ears. She had to be dreaming—or crazy.

_:You are neither, Chosen.:_ The voice was amused.

Lythe felt a slight annoyance at being made fun of—her first emotion since surprise—and the gasped yet again.

_Chosen …?_

Even though the Heralds had only been around for not even three generations, everyone in Valdemar knew what it meant to be called "Chosen."

_:That's correct, Lythe:_ the voice—no, Companion—spoke again. _:I am Natari.:_

"This is impossible," Lythe said aloud. "I am not Chosen. When was I Chosen?"

_:Don't you remember? I Choose you right when Vrail brought you here, and then I broke your curse.:_

"My curse is broken?"

_:Yes.:_

Lythe couldn't believe it. Ever since she had gotten her curse, she had never believed it would ever be removed. She never even thought it could be removed. She wanted to cry out of joy! She would be able to watch the sunset, go out in daylight, be with other people! She would be able to do so much that she had thought would have been impossible.

"Thank you so much, Natari."

_:You're welcome, Lythe:_ the voice—Natari—said happily.

Lythe just laid back on the bed and smiled. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop for a long time. Her curse was broken and now she was going to be a Herald! She had to tell Rothas!

"Where is Rothas?" she asked Natari, hoping Natari would be able to hear her.

_:He is still asleep, healing from the mage-bolt Silveous fired at him:_ she answered, _:but he will be fine. And you don't have to speak out loud. Just think what you want to say and I will hear it.:_

"How—" Lythe began to say, but than tried to think it, like Natari had said. _:How did I get here? And how can I speak to you with thoughts? And was Rothas Chosen too.: _Lythe could feel Natari smiling and than interjected, _:What's so funny.:_

_:Your questions:_ Natari responded, but she was still smiling. _:You have so many of them.:_

_:So answer them.: _Lythe felt very impatient, like she had to move, but knew it would probably not do much if she got out of bed, because at the same time she felt very tired.

_:When Silveous attacked you, both you and Rothas were knocked out. Vrail had managed to shield himself in time, so he attacked Silveous back. There was a short battle, and, somehow—I am not sure how—Vrail was able to get you, Rothas and himself away from Silveous' keep, along with Darshay, his Companion.:_

_That does explain why he asked for Darshay,_ Lythe thought.

_:The reason you can speak to me with your thoughts is because you have the Gift of Mindspeech—the ability to talked to others with your thoughts. You also have the Gift of Foresight and the Mage-Gift. Foresight is being able to see the future—in a way—and you know what a mage is.:_

Lythe nodded her head, and had the feeling Natari knew it.

_:And_ _you might want to know that Vrail, Ilan and Devren are coming: _Natari added.

_:What? Who are Devren and Ilan:_

_:Devren is the Dean of the Collegiums and Ilan is your Healer.:_

_:What's a Dean: _Lythe asked, but just then the door to her room opened. Three men entered.

Vrail, who she knew, looked quite a bit different, now that he had cleaned up. He had quite fine pure silver hair and dark blue eyes that matched. He was a medium-tall height and slightly muscular. Another man—the Healer Ilan, Lythe presumed, because of his green robes—had warm brown eyes and brown hair and was surprisingly short. The last man, Devren, had grey hair with tired dark brown eyes under dark eyebrows.

Vrail was the first to speak up after all three of them had entered the room. "I want to thank you and Rothas for saving me—I would have died if you hadn't intervened. If you know some way to pay you back, I will help."

"Alright," Lythe said, but was confused. How could a simple Herald-Mage say he would help her and pay her back? From what she knew, Herald, while honored, weren't rich at all, as they had to give up any title they had after they were Chosen.

_:It is because he is the Prince:_ Natari said out of the blue.

"What!" Lythe cried. She couldn't believe it. This Herald she and Rothas had saved was the Prince of Valdemar! Not only that, but he was Windrider too, the Prince who had had stories and songs written about him before he had even taken over his father's rule. Then she saw the looks on the three men's faces. She blushed immediately. "Sorry," she said, much more quietly.

But Vrail smiled and his eyes lightened. "Don't worry, I understand. When Darshay first Chose me, I kept saying things out of the blue all the time because I always forgot I had Mindspeech. I think he felt it was quite funny."

Lythe felt suddenly much less embarrassed, especially when Devren and Ilan smiled also.

"I can't say I know the feeling, but I'll take Vrail's word for it," Ilan said.

"I do," Devren added, "and every time some non-Heralds looked at me like I was crazy, I felt like it would have been better to not have be Chosen!"

_:You'd better not do that to me.:_

Lythe smiled at both Natari and Devren's joke.

Devren spoke up again. "Since you have been Chosen, you are, of course, going to be enrolled in the Collegium. That is what I came here for—to show you around the Collegium and Palace and to set up your schedule for classes and such."

_:Why am I going to see the Palace: _Lythe asked Natari.

_:The Collegium and Palace are the same building, but they're just called two different names.:_

"But," Devren continued, "first Healer Ilan has to make sure you're all right—"

The door burst open to revel a young page in blue, who suddenly looked very embarrassed to be there, and whispered something quietly to Devren, still blushing.

Devren turned back to Lythe with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, but there is a problem I have to take care of with some Bard- and Herald-trainees." He swiftly walked out the room with the page right behind him. Lythe heard his voice echo around the hallway, saying how it was extremely impolite to walk into a Healer's room without knocking first, and how he might see some things he'd rather not see. The page asked what the things he'd rather not see were and that launched Devren on a whole new speech.

Lythe, Vrail and Ilan were all smiling at the conversation when Vrail turned back to Lythe.

"I'm afraid I have to go—I only came here to tell you how thankful I am—and now I'll take my leave, and leave you in Ilan capable hands." Vrail mock-bowed and exited the room.

Now it was Ilan who turned back to Lythe. "Would you please get out of bed and walk around the room? You've been asleep for nearly three days."

"Really? Why so long?" Lythe asked, getting up.

"You had been hit by a strong levenbolt—a mage-bolt—and you were quite weak even before that. I'm not surprised you slept so long while you recovered."

Lythe suddenly remembered hat Natari hadn't answered her question if Rothas had been Chosen. She was about to ask again when Natari interjected.

_:He wasn't:_ she said.

_:Why not? It seems fair that he should be a Herald too.:_

_:Being Chosen isn't about fairness, it's about having the right character. Apparently, you have it and Rothas doesn't. Rothas may be caring and giving and a kind person, but he is not suited to become a Herald.: _

Even though it sounded cruel, Lythe knew Natari was just saying the truth.

_:I'm afraid with you being a Herald, and Rothas not, it might strain your relationship. Especially since you are lifebonded.:_

_:What? Me and Rothas aren't _lifebonded That couldn't have happened to her …

_:But it has:_ Natari said with complete seriousness.

_Wow … all of that in just one day …_

"What are you so surprised about?" Ilan asked suddenly, and startled Lythe slightly.

"Just—Just everything that has happened to me today. It's like all these different dreams I had when I was younger and they all happen on the same day."

Ilan smiled. "That must be a shocker. Being Chosen, the curse being lifted. I could imagine this must be one of the best days of your life."

"Maybe …" Lythe said distantly, but than she thought about the time she and Rothas had first met. Then it occurred to her she had never asked if Rothas' curse was broken. She felt a wave of guilt that she had never thought to ask about Rothas.

"It was," Ilan said, after she asked. "By the Companions."

Lythe smiled. Today really was one of the best days in her life.

The rest of the check-up passed quickly in silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. She was led to a bath by Ilan and some clothes were left there. After taking a short, but thorough bath, she changed into her new clothes and met with Ilan who had been waiting for her the whole time. He led her through the Collegium-Palace and to Devren's office. There, she was shown around the Palace and given some new sets of "Grays" to wear, along with a schedule of classes, but that wouldn't start until the day after the next.

Then Lythe was shown her room, where she would live. It didn't matter that it was small—it was finally a true home.


	13. Friends

**A/N: **I don't think I'm gonna update next time very quickly, so be forewarned, but this chapter doesn't really end with a cliffie, so it shouldn't be too bad. But please review becuase that'll make me review that much quicker!

And thank you to: **Lizai**, **Serami Nefera**, **I Forget** (I feel really flattered becuase you said I was a good writer) and **ChaosLightning13** for reviewing!

And to**ChaosLightning**: By having Natari removing Lythe's curse was not a deus-ex-machina. The way I see it, any mage's curse can be broken by another mage that is stronger than the mage that cast the spell. And with Natari working together with all the other Companions, they easily overpowered the mage's curse. Also, the curses weren't supposed to be a big part of the plot, as I'm sure you noticed in the earlier chapters where the curses weren't really talked about or anything (I have something else in store for them). I hope this explanation satisfies you, and if it doesn't, I'm sorry.

**X-X-X**

A slight breeze blew over the Companion's Field and made the green grass wave. The sun was bright and there were no clouds—a perfect day in all aspects, except for Rothas' dark mood. He was sitting under a tree in the Field, thinking about that had happened in the last two weeks since he and Lythe had come to Haven.

He knew Lythe had been Chosen by Natari and was training to become a Herald. He knew they were both Adept-level mages and he had the Gift of Empathy while Lythe had Foresight. He knew he had declined training to become a Bard and decided to just concentrate on mastering his Mage and Empathy Gifts. He also knew he wasn't Chosen. He also knew Lythe would one day become a Herald while he would be forgotten, just another long-forgotten old friend.

_Why?_ he screamed in his mind. _Why? It was me who wanted to save Vrail without hesitation, not Lythe. _She_ didn't want to do it. In fact, if I hadn't convinced her, she would have let Vrail _die_! I made the same sacrifice she did, risking to be killed by Silveous, but _I_ didn't get Chosen! It was me who was able to break the spell Silveous had over me and it was me who said no, even though I knew I would be tortured! I should have be Chosen! I should have been Chosen before Lythe for sure!_

He heard familiar laughter and looked up. It was Vrail and Lythe and Natari. Lythe was laughing for some reason and Vrail along with her. It looked like he was going to show her how to ride a horse, something she had never done before.

Vrail helped Lythe up in the saddle and before she could get her feet secure, Natari started running, throwing Lythe off immediately right into Vrail's arms, who then fell right on the ground. Vrail didn't get up immediately, and neither did Lythe. They seemed to stay there for a long while—an unnecessarily long while—talking and laying beside each other when they finally got up. Lythe then turned to Natari and said something out loud, causing Vrail to laugh. Rothas was sure Natari was laughing too—_As if a horse can, _he thought in the back of his mind—and soon Lythe joined in. Vrail and Lythe looked like the happiest people in the world.

"Some lifebonded you are!" Rothas wanted to scream, but didn't. The sentence still echoed around in his head, like a mantra. He marched out of the Companion's Field, ignoring all the white horses that looked up from the ground where they were eating.

Rothas stomp into his room in the Bardic section of the Collegium-Palace (they were no doubt trying to convince him to change his mind about becoming a Bard with this feeble attempt) and dropped onto his bed. He tried to calm himself down, because in the two-weeks worth of lessons he had gotten in magery, the last thing he wanted to do was become mad—that could easily make him lose control of his powers, something he did not want to happen.

In a few minutes he was able to calm down enough to realize how exhausted he was from the constant anger he had been carrying around all day. He turned over in bed and decided to sleep. He didn't care if he missed dinner and his soonest lesson was his Empathy training, but that wouldn't be until the next day after lunch. He knew he wouldn't have to worry about missing it

Soon enough, Rothas was asleep, and finally he didn't have to carry his resentment anymore.

**X-X-X**

Rothas opened his eyes slowly, even though he wasn't tired at all. He had just woken up immediately for no reason, and now felt like moving, like going somewhere. He got out of bed and looked out the window—it was dark, a starry night with a quater-moon. He lit a candle and, because he was still in his day clothes, walked out of his room without changing and started wandering through the dark halls.

He still wasn't used to the dark, as before coming here, he hadn't seen it in nearly a year. It had been dark in Silveous' prison, but Rothas had been too preoccupied to worry about it then.

Rothas continued to walk through the halls anyway, and found himself in front of the Bardic library. The library wasn't a library in the traditional sense—instead of having books, it had music. Rothas hadn't been in here once, because he thought it might make the Bards think he wanted to become one, and that would give them new energy in trying to convince him. But it was about three in the morning now, and he was sure no Bard or mistral would be in there at this time.

He stepped in.

It was completely dark in the room, except for Rothas' candle. He didn't feeling like caring, so he just ignored it, and started walking through the aisles, using his sole candle for light.

Rothas couldn't make any sense of the organization of the music, and doubted there was any, but he couldn't help be impressed by the amount of music the library had. It was certainly more than he had ever seen.

He continued to walk through the aisles, and then found one part of the library actually organized. It was all songs that had to do with the founding of Valdemar, and there were many different varieties, with all the songs being different lengths and styles.

Rothas took all the music. He would return it in a few hours before anyone noticed it was gone, simple as that. He decided not to read in the library, so he took the music and found himself walking again with no direction. Oddly enough, when he stopped he was outside, near the Companion's Field, from where he had run out just hours before.

Rothas walked through the Field, silent except for the occasional breeze. He walked to the tree he had been sitting under before, and sat under it again. He put the music down and grabbed the top piece, and started looking at it.

As he examined the songs, he found some he thought were horrible, others okay, and others very good, but his favorite was one that was a parody. He knew how to easily carry a tune without the music and, after humming it and a few bad starts, started singing the song quietly.

It was just like back in the forest, when he was alone and sung only because he wanted to, not because it was expected of him or because he was being paid to. That was why he didn't want to be a Bard, among other reasons. Everywhere he went he would have to sing songs, and Rothas didn't wasn't to be at others' beck and call. He wanted to sing when he wanted to and no other time.

When the song finally finished, Rothas opened his eyes, and found a white horse there listening to him. The horse had walked up to him silently while Rothas had been singing, and Rothas had never noticed. Despite the horse's intent, blue-eyed stare, he felt completely comfortable around it. Rothas lowered the shields he kept around himself and allowed himself to feel the horse's emotion. He was surprised when he felt a mixture of contentment and pride. The horse—_No, Companion,_ he thought—was proud of him. Rothas decided not to think too much about it and just closed his eyes and let his shields stay lowered so he could feel the pride that made him smile. Soon enough, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Rothas woke up with something touching against his head. He tried to swat it away, but the thing was insistent. Rothas finally opened his eyes and turned to see the Companion that had been listing to him sing, was knocking him awake.

"Why are you waking me up?" Rothas asked the Companion, still very tired. The Companion waved his head in the direction behind Rothas. Rothas turned around and gasped.

The sun was on the horizon, and that meant soon, everyone would be waking up, if they weren't already awake.

_And I bet _someone_ will notice the missing songs._

Rothas jumped up, grabbed the burnt-out candle, the stack of songs and started running towards the Collegium. Rothas sent a small wave of thankfulness to the Companion, and to his surprise, the Companion didn't put up any shields, but instead responded with something that seemed to say, "You're welcome." Rothas stumbled in surprise but kept running towards the Collegium.

He reached the Bardic library in a minute, and ran right through the doors. He dashed the shelf were he knew the songs were kept, and quickly put them there. Rothas then turned around to leave the library, and found himself facing a man wearing Scarlets.

The man smiled. "What is the infamous Rothas doing here, when he claimed he wanted nothing to do with the Bards?"

"I don't know," Rothas replied nonchalantly, trying to hide the fact that he was breathing as heavily as he was. "Maybe you're just dreaming—it is early in the morning, you know—and you could easily be imagining things."

"I suppose I could," the Bard said, looking around, as if wondering. "But what if I'm not, and you really are Rothas."

"Well," Rothas said, "if that happens to be true—which I'm sure it's not—I suppose I would ask you to not tell any of the other Bards, otherwise they would hound me to try and get me to join their ranks."

"Hmm," the man said, and looked from Rothas to the music he had just put down. "I suppose I won't tell any of the other Bards some Rothas-imposter was here, or else the real Rothas would be sure to use some mage-curse on me."

"I'm sure he would," Rothas said, and gave a small mock-bow to the Bard before walking calmly out the door.


	14. Arguments

A/N: Thanks to **ChaosLightning**, **Kirin'sDaughter**, **loonyloonylupin**, **I Forgot**, and **Serami Nefera**.

And sorry _ChaosLightning _that it still seems like a deus-ex-machina, but I can't do much about it.

Only other thing to say is this chapter takes place about two months after the last one.

**X-X-X**

Prince Vrail walked through the halls of the Palace, having just finished a meeting with the Council. But his mind was wrapped around what his father, Restil, and his King's Own, Beltran, had told him after the meeting. There was more activity in the Wendwinter Forest and the area around than there had been since Valdemar had been founded.

And that could mean two things: another kingdom was growing in the north, or that an army was being raised, and he was sure it was the second.

Vrail wasn't sure why his father hadn't told the Council, but had a feeling it was something to do with not enough information or he didn't want them to panic. It was always his excuse.

But still, Valdemar had never been in a war and the only military it even had was local militias on the border and a small Guard around Haven. They had the Heralds too, but there were only twenty or so.

_But now that I think of it, _Vrail thought,_ this year there were six new Trainees; more than we've ever had before. Is the impending war why?_

Now Vrail was in the library, cutting through the small collection of books to get to his room. He absent-mindedly saw Beltran notice him and approach, so Vrail automatically stopped.

"You shouldn't worry about it you know," said the very old, wizened man, which made Vrail think of how he had been able to beat him to the library. Beltran had been the King's Own of King Valdemar before Restil, and before that had been a friend and seneschal of Valdemar's when he had been a Baron of the Aurinalean Empire. "There is a reason we didn't tell the Council about it—because everything will be fine

Vrail nodded, but didn't feel as comfortable as Beltran and Restil that this would cool down quickly enough. It couldn't hurt to be prepared for a fight, could it?

Vrail soon said good-bye and left—he had to go get ready for Rothas' mage lesson, which would be starting soon.

He hurried out of the library and to his room, where he changed quickly into less formal clothes and hurried out the door again into the Collegium, where there were shielded, made-for-mage-training rooms. Vrail reached the room in less than two minutes, but found Rothas already there.

"Have you been here long?" Vrail asked. He had sensed that Rothas was angry right when he had walked into the room. He didn't need Empathy to tell him that. As if to emphasize the point, Rothas only nodded shortly with a look Vrail couldn't identify before Rothas turned away. "Good," Vrail said, trying to not let his annoyance show as he put shields on both of them. "Now start by forming a low-level shield."

Sky-blue mage energy started to wrap around Rothas gracefully, almost instantly. It looked like Rothas had been doing this for years. Even if Rothas had some trouble with some things, one thing he could do was look professional.

As Vrail continued to observe the shield with his Mage-Sight, he noticed how well Rothas' sky-blue would blend with Lythe's forest-green shield. But they would only work on melding later, when both of them were more experienced.

Suddenly, Rothas' shield started to falter, like his concentration was breaking, and so Vrail called out, "Concentrate, Rothas."

"I know," Rothas suddenly said angrily, his shield completely disappearing. Vrailrealized howlucky he was that nothing had exploded from Rothas' sudden burst of anger, and his annoyance doubled.

"What's wrong with you, Rothas? Since two months ago, you've started avoiding me, you started ignoring to me when we actually _do_ meet and constantly arguing with me during these lesson when I should think I know better than you do!"

"That's just it!" Rothas shouted, a sudden wind blowing his hair. "It's all about you! You, who knows best! You, a spoiled Heir! You, the legendary Windrider! You, the snobbish, conceding, ungrateful person you are!" Rothas hiked out of the room, leaving Vrail in shock about what Rothas had just told him.

**X-X-X**

Rothas marched out to the Companion's Field to the spot where he had sung long ago with the Companion. Back than he had been content,but now he was furious. How could Vrail, the person who had everything—wealth, power, fame—steal the only thing he had, Lythe! How could Vrail say he knew better when he wasn't any older than Rothas himself! How could he be a friend, when he cared so little about how Rothas felt.

_He can't. He can't be a good friend … He _isn't _a good friend!_

Rothas leaned against the wooden tree behind him and closed his eyes, tears trying to go through.

He didn't have Lythe. He didn't have Vrail. He didn't have anybody. He was alone and no one cared. Not his lifeblood. Not his best friend.

Rothas looked up when he Felt a calming, powerful presence near him. It was the Companion, the one he had accidentally sung to.

"At least I have you," he said bitterly. "That sure says something. The only person I have isn't a person at all, but a horse. A horse is more my friend than my supposed-best friend and my supposed-lifebonded. Yeah … that definitely says something."

He was mildly surprised when the Companion didn't snort when he called him a horse, but felt grateful for it. He couldn't handle anything right now. Not a Companion mad at him. Not seeing any person. Not anything.

He heard his name being shouted, and Rothas looked up quickly. Vrail was heading towards. Rothas groaned. That was the last person he wanted to see. Vrail knew exactly why he was mad at him, and Rothas wasn't in the mood to apologizing.

_It's him who should be apologizing to me anyway._

The Companion nickered, and tossed his head, and Rothas could only look in shock.

"You want me to ride you?"

The Companion nodded, and Rothas trying to get all thoughts out of his mind, jumped on. The Companion suddenly ran off, faster than Rothas had ever gone, and Rothas was finally able to do it. Finally able to get all thoughts out of his mind.


	15. Distractions

**A/N: **Yeah ... Long time no update. Sorry about that but my inspiration had been very low lately, not to mention I've been busy.

Thanks to reviews from **ChaosLightning13** (I didn't realize the time jump was jumpy, sorry about that, but nothing worth writing about happened in those two months.), **Ray Venn Hakubi** (Thanks for the comment although I'm still not completely convinced), **Serami Nefera** (Rothas wasn't Chosen, the Companion was just getting him away from Vrail), **Atavri Shian** (Would you mind telling me what your ending would have been? If I like it I'd try to incorporate some of the ideas if you don't mind. I like having a different idea of what could happen. Here's your update too.)

**X-X-X**

_:Why don't you visit Rothas:_ Natari asked Lythe. _:You haven't seen to him for nearly two weeks and you haven't talked to him for longer.:_

_:I'd like to, but I'm exhausted:_ Lythe replied. She had just come from the bathing room after finishing weapons-class. The Weaponsmaster had worked her harder than ever before, and Lythe was curious why the sudden change, but she was too tired to put too much thought into it.

_:Don't you think he might be lonely:_

Natari sounded completely serious, to Lythe's confusion. _:Why? I'm sure he's been able to keep as busy as I am, and he has Vrail too.: _

This conversation was making her uncomfortable. The truth was, and Lythe had a feeling Natari knew this, was that she knew Rothas was angry with her. And she knew it had to do with how busy she had been lately. She had been learning how to control her Mage-Gift and Foresight. She was learning about law and geography and countless other things Heralds had to know, and she was exhausted and brain-dead by the end of the day, and in no mood to visit Rothas.

Maybe if they had said yes when Vrail had asked them if they wanted to share a bedroom, this wouldn't be happening. But Rothas had said that he didn't want to distract Lythe from her classes. Had he said that out of generosity or in an effort to avoid her? Had he been angry at her that long?

But knowing that Rothas _was_ mad at her made her purposefully take extra tutoring with her teachers. It gave her an excuse to avoid him, but she knew she was only making it worse. Still, she knew Rothas had a temper and given how busy and tired she had been _without_ her extra classes, she hadn't wanted to face it. It was something that was always in the back of her head and lately it actually had made her skittish and short-tempered at the same time.

_:He and Vrail fought and aren't speaking anymore. You need to resolve this; it's only hurting you both.:_ There was a hint of steel in Natari's voice, and Lythe reluctantly stood up.

_:You're not the one who's going to get his temper:_ she muttered. Natari was silent and left her mind.

Now that Natari was gone, Lythe wanted to lay back in bed. _But I can't. Natari will just give me another lecture, _she thought, annoyed.

She wondered where Rothas was, but wasn't in the mood to ask her Companion, who was making her do this.

She wandered aimlessly around the Collegium and Palace grounds. She asked the servants and passing Bards and Heralds if they knew where Rothas was, and for every no she got for an answer, the angrier she became. She had been walking around for ten minutes when a Bard-trainee finally answered that he was in the Companion's Field, under a large oak tree next to the unfinished chapel. But it took another ten minutes to actually get there because she had been on the end of the Palace farthest from the Companion's Field.

"There you are," she said, exasperated when she reached Rothas and the tree he was sitting under. In his hand was a stack of paper, but she didn't know nor care what they were about.

Rothas narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I've been looking for you for twenty minutes."

"Why were you looking for me? I surely don't deserve your attention." His voice was full of haughtiness. "Don't you have more important things to do … Herald."

Her anger flared. "I came down her to talk about why I've been so busy lately, so here it goes. I've been learning skills that will one day help this kingdom while you are sitting her _moping_."

Rothas jumped to his feet, the papers that had been in his hand now floating to the ground. "You're not the only Herald in Valdemar, you know—you're not even a _Herald_, you're a Trainee. I think the world can wait for a few hours so spend time with your lifebonded. But no, you're being a self-righteous bitch and pretending to save the world!"

"I'm not pretending to do anything! I'm just trying to put my Gifts to good use!"

"I'm getting _my_ Mage-Gift trained too. What do you think I'll do after I master it—go on a killing rampage? No. I'll be doing the same thing as you, I just won't need a Companion to act as my conscious—I've already got one."

"I have a Companion because I have the right qualities to be a Herald and you don't. Don't take your anger out on me because you weren't Chosen!" Lythe turned around and started walking away.

Rothas looked at her incredulously. "You think I want to be Chosen? I don't know where you got that idea, but the last thing I want to do is be one of you!"

"I can see right through you, Rothas,"Lythe said. "You might as well stop lying to yourself."

She picked up her pace and missed Rothas' reply, if he had one. She got some satisfaction from having the last word, but not enough to cover pain coming from the bond to Rothas.

**X-X-X**

_She doesn't know what she's talking about,_ Rothas thought angrily as he paced in the Field. _She doesn't understand me at all. She's been spending so much time with her Herald friends—especially Vrail, I bet. She doesn't know anything. She's too blind to see it. She doesn't know, _he repeated. _She doesn't know. _

_Lythe must think she so superior, a Herald-Mage with her own Companion. She doesn't need me anymore. All she needs is her egotistical _friend_ Vrail and she's just fine. _He angrily kicked the oak tree and cried out in pain. _Damn her and Vrail. They don't need me and I don't need them._

**X-X-X**

A candlemark later Rothas left Field, hoping he calmed down enough to not snap at anyone who talked to him. He had picked up the scattered papers on the ground, which had humorous song about what happens when you drink a bit too much. He walked to the Bardic library and opened the door—and ran right into an exiting Bard.

"Watch where you're going," he said sharply.

The Bard looked slightly shocked at the rudeness. "I see someone is having a bad day."

Rothas looked up at him, not because the Bard had snapped back at him, but because he had said it with humor in his voice.

"I won't let something like this ruin my day; shouldn't either," the Bard said and handed the music Rothas had dropped to him.

"Thanks …" Rothas said warily, and then knew why seeing the Bard had been giving him a nagging feeling. It was the Bard he had met the first day he had come to the library. And the Bard recognized him too, because he stuck out his hand and introduced himself with all the cheer in the world.

"Hi. I'm Bard Renir, but you can just call me Ren."

"Hi, I'm Rothas," Rothas said, feeling all his anger leave, unable to stand against Ren's joyfulness. No, he felt more confused by his sudden change in mood.

"We've met before, I believe. And I've heard plenty about you," Ren said, just as happily. Rothas was wondering if there was anything that would bring down his mood.

"What did you hear?" Rothas asked cautiously.

"Well—the Bard suddenly sat down on a stone bench next to the door. Feeling uncomfortable standing over him, Rothas did the same—"It seems lately you've been sulking, ever since your argument with Prince Vrail. Your lifebonded Lythe has been Chosen but you haven't and you haven't spoken often either."

Rothas was about to ask where he had heard _that_, but the Bard interrupted, suddenly serious. "You must be lonely."

"What?" Rothas was caught off guard by the change of subject. "Well, it's okay most of the time because I've spent the last few years of my life alone."

"Because of your curse. Wouldn't you sleep when it became dark?"

"Yes." Rothas didn't want to talk about his curse and kept his answer brief. Ren obviously noticed because he then said, cheerful again,

"Why don't we go out into Haven for a few candlemarks and I can show you there's more to this place than this Collegium and Palace. There's a tavern Bards go to to show off their new songs. I'm sure we'll fit in just fine." He smiled again, and Rothas grinned too.

"Sure. I'd like that."


End file.
